Tour at 19:00
Report from Elding: With our infamous "Whale Punch" drinks a-plenty we headed out into the bay leaving the rain behind us. After only 30 minutes we came across a large pod of white-beaked dolphins with at least 8-10 individuals present. There were even tiny calves with their mothers - with these animals calving here in Faxafloi from July - August. We were able to stay with these animals for around 20 minutes watching them milling about all around us and allowing our customers to get some great photos of their dorsal and white-striped flanks. With a great close encounter with these animals we decided to head further out into the gloriously flat calm seas. We had not travelled far when we were greeted with at least 4 different minke whales in one area. One surfaced within just 40 m of us with a flash of its dark back and curved shaped dorsal fin. We stayed in this area and were able to watch them surface simultaneously for 20 minutes. These animals were surfacing fairly irregularly so we decided to head in a different direction. We were rewarded with a closer encounter with a minke whale and a perfectly pink-red sunset in the background. On our way back to Reykjavik we were serenaded with our on-board troubadour which made for a great journey back to the harbour.
- Darcy Philpott
Tour at 17:00
Report from Eldey: The tours kept going better and better! At the beginning it seemed that the sea conditions were deteriorating a little, but not at all! Quiet waters out in the bay, with almost no wind disturbing the surface. After 40 minutes of our departure we saw the first animals in the horizons. They were minke whales, and we could count more than 3 of them even though it was pretty far away. When we approached we saw even more, 5, 6, even 7 different individuals? But something else captivated our minds: a black shadow floating randomly in the surface. It was, again, a basking shark! Way much bigger than the one that we saw this morning! We stood with the animal for at least half an hour, and then we focused a little bit more on the minke whales. At the end we also saw a pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises, and a pod of 8-10 white beaked dolphins. An amazing last tour of the day for the majestic Eldey!
- Alberto Alejandro
Tour at 14:00
Report from Elding: The sky was still a bit grey for our tour but we smoothly rode on a flat sea, making the perfect setting for spotting wild cetaceans. After experiencing some impeding troubles with the sound system on Elding, we finally figured out solutions just before encountering a pod of white-beaked dolphins. It was a group of 7-10 individuals that were a tad tricky to follow, but we managed to have satisfying looks before we went further away for some more whales. AOur wishes were granted as we found a total on 5 minke whales in Faxa Bay ! Some of them were spotted in the distance, but we could have close looks at 2 of them, and the icing on the cake was to sight a second pod of white-beaked dolphins in the same area ! We ended our tour with those delightful dolphins until we went back home in a quiet trip in a surprisingly warm Icelandic climate.
- Guillaume Calcagni
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: What a tour!we saw our first minke whale after almost 30 minutes of sailing. Well, Alberto (one of our researchers) spotted it first! good job! Besides, after that, many passengers got very involved and active in the search too. We were looking at that minke whale for about 10 minutes and after that we headed further out to look for more. We saw at least 5 more throughout the whole tour. We also found a pod of 9 white-beaked dolphins which happened to be fishing in the area. One of my favorite behaviours to witness!they were changing directions real quick and also going for deep long dives of 3-4 minutes in average. Our fishfinder also showed us there was at least to big shoals of fish under the boat (around 27 meters below us). Right after, we had to head back to Reykjavik city. Lovely cetaceans and audience today!
- Jorge Pascual
Tour at 10:00
Report from Eldey: Another perfect morning on the bay. Mirror calm sea, just a slight breeze from the north-west and an overcast sky giving us optimal whale spotting conditions. Did not seem to be much food and thus whales until we got far offshore. Once in the area it was incredible. 3 pods of white-beaked dolphins, at least 20 individuals if not more. 4-5 minke whales but only 1 came close to the boat, others were seen in the distance. We also got to see 2 pods of harbour porpoises (6-8 individuals in total) and a very small basking shark, only 3-4 meters long. It’s not often we saw basking sharks maybe 1-2 in a summer. The birds were amazing too, diverse and busy feeding. Watching the gannets plunge into the water was particularly amazing.
- Megan Whittaker
Tour at 09:00
Report from Elding: It was a hazy day, so the visibility over the bay was not great and it was not possible to see the landscape around the area. Even so the conditions were fantastic for spotting cetaceans. The first animals were spotted early on the tour, those were 3 pods of harbour porpoises each wit 3-4 individuals. When we got further out we found larger animals, minke whales, and in good numbers! They seemed to be in all direction bur really scattered. We saw at lest 7 minke whales for the whole tour and 4 of those we got a great look at within 200 meters distance. One of those minke whales seemed to be a juvenile, it didn't look larger than 5 meter long. Soon we got news from another boat about a basking shark! This was the first basking shark seen in the bay this summer! Our last species of the tour were the white beaked dolphins. We at least 10 dolphins on this tour, they were active and few were seen breaching a few times. What a way to end a tour that never had a dull moment, even on the way we never had to wait for too long for another sighting.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Bird species seen today: manx shearwater, northern fulmar, common guillemot, northern gannet, kittiwake, atlantic puffins, lesser black-backed seagulls, red necked phalarope.
Status: RUNNING
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik today. It is a cloudy but beautiful day with little to no wind.
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